Android Ice Cream Sandwich Coming to Sony Tablets

Sony is the latest tablet maker to announce an upgrade to Google's latest mobile OS.

Sony quietly confirmed a forthcoming Ice Cream Sandwich update for its Tablet S and Tablet P devices last week through its online community forum. This is not Sony's first ICS announcement, as the company divulged plans to roll out Android 4.0 for its Sony Ericsson Xperia Phones starting in March.

We got our hands on the Sony Tablet S and were impressed by the comfortable, ergonomic design. Lead mobile analyst Sascha Segan described it as "one of the best-looking Android tablets around" with its wedge-shaped, magazine-like design.

But the media giant's tablet failed to wow us when it came to performance, features, and content offerings. Ultimately, the Sony Tablet S came up short when compared with top-selling tablets like the Apple iPad 2 and the Amazon Kindle Fire.

Currently, Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone is the only device on the market running Google's latest mobile OS, but companies like LG have been jumping on the ICS bandwagon, announcing their own plans for software updates to various devices.

Thus far, phones have been the major players in the Ice Cream Sandwich race, but tablet news is also starting to heat up. Earlier this month, Google promised an Android tablet of "the highest quality" in the next sixth months. Google made its intentions clear, targeting tablet juggernaut Apple and promising a "brutal competition" between the two companies.

Ice Cream Sandwich update announcements have been a bit of a mess for smartphone and tablet manufacturers alike. Many device makers have balked when it comes to the new OScase in point, Samsung's announcement earlier this month that Android 4.0, when combined with the company's TouchWiz UI enhancements, proves too much for the 1GHz Cortex A8-powered Galaxy S line, which would therefore not be upgraded. Backlash from customers, however, has reportedly motivated Samsung to "investigate ways to try and make it work."

The lack of a cohesive roll-out plan across the board prompted PCMag.com's Jamie Lendino to suggest that Google's Android Update Alliance may be DOA.

Before joining the consumer electronics team at PCMag, Eugene worked at local news station NY1 doing everything from camera work to writing scripts. He grew up in Montclair, New Jersey and graduated from the University of Virginia in 2010. Outside of work Eugene enjoys TV, loud music, and making generally healthy and responsible life choices.
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